Porsche Motorsports Weekly Event Notes: Monday, August 14, 2017
Upcoming Events.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Event: Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, VIRginia International Raceway
Dateline: Alton, Virginia
Date: Sunday, August 27
Track Length: 3.27-miles, 17-turn
Race Duration: 2-Hours, 40-Minutes
Class: GTLM (Porsche 911 RSR)
GTD (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
Round: GTLM. 9 of 11
GTD. 10 of 12
Next Round: Continental Monterey Grand Prix, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California, September 22 - 24, 2017
Porsche Profile.
Event Story Lines.
Porsche Desert Podiums. Customer Team 911 GT3 Rs Enjoy PWC Success In Utah.
The Porsche 911 GT3 R showed itself well at Utah Motorsports Campus (UMC) in Rounds 7 and 8 of the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) SprintX Championship. Five of the official GT3-spec entries built by Porsche Motorsport were campaigned in the twin, 60-minute, two-driver format races on Saturday and Sunday, August 12 – 13, at the Tooele, Utah-area track. Three Porsche factory drivers and one of the German marque’s Young Professionals helped to anchor the customer teams in the Pro/Pro and Pro/Am classes of North America’s premier sprint format GT racing series.
On Saturday, Patrick Long (Manhattan Beach, California) and Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) captured the highest finish for the flat-six cylinder-powered machines with a third-place sharing the No. 58 Porsche Consulting Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. The podium helped buoy Long’s position in the PWC’s overall GT class driver standings with two event weekends and five races remaining in the year. The longtime driver pairing followed as the highest finishing Porsche overall on Sunday with a sixth-place result on a track not considered to be favorable to the rear-engine layout of the car. Making their debut in the Pro/Pro class of SprintX was factory driver Wolf Henzler (Germany) with Jon Fogarty (Bend, Oregon) in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing 911 GT3 R. Both team and drivers were finding their feet in the class and finished in 11th-posiiton on Saturday after early race contact forced a pit stop to replace a cut tire. The “Red Dragon” improved considerably in the overall standings and up to tenth-position in Pro/Pro in Sunday’s feature.
Porsche Young Professional Mathieu Jaminet (France) returned to the No. 14 GMG Racing 911 GT3 R to help longtime Porsche entrant James Sofronas (Villa Park, California) earn two Pro/Am podium finishes in Utah. The blue and white car raced to second-place on Saturday behind fellow Porsche racers Michael Schein (Glen Cover, New York) and Jan Heylen (Tampa, Florida) in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports 911 GT3 R. Jaminet/Sofronas climbed to the top-step on Sunday after the No. 16 was penalized for too little time spent in the pits during the timed pit stop/driver change.
The No. 77 Calvert Dynamics car of Preston Calvert (Potomac, Maryland) and Alec Udell (The Woodlands, Texas) finished in fifth-place (Pro/Am class) on both Saturday and Sunday.
In the GTC-X class, the No. 95 Tool Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car driven by Andy Lee (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and Erich Joiner (Manhattan Beach, California) earned the class victory on Saturday. It was the team’s first win in PWC in 2017. They finished second on Sunday. The No. 90 Autometrics Motorsports 911 GT3 Cup car was just behind the Tool machine on Saturday with drivers Joe Toussaint (Houston, Texas) and Cory Friedman (Charleston, South Carolina) finishing in second-place. Following a 32-second penalty on Sunday, the class regulars finished in third-place.
The Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR had two entries on the GTS-X grid. The No. 47 NOLAsport car shared by Jason Hart (Flower Mound, Texas) and Matt Travis (The Woodlands, Texas) took the victory for the mid-engine Porsche machine on both race days ahead of Case-It Racing’s No. 017 driven by Adam Merzon (Greenwich, Connecticut) and Trent Hindman (Long Branch, New Jersey) in second-place.
Patrick Long, Driver, No. 58 Porsche Consulting Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
“That was a tough ending to an otherwise really strong weekend for us. We improved on the car throughout the weekend. Today we were running in a really clear third position. After a couple of full course yellows the two cars in front of me were battling for the lead and got everyone bunched up. On the exit of turn five I was pushed off the track and from there fell back to sixth place. I’m pretty frustrated to have not gotten racing room, but that’s sprint racing. Pirelli World Challenge is intense competition. It is what the fans love and why we, as drivers, love to race here. Sometimes it just bites you.”
Jörg Bergmeister, Driver, No. 58 Porsche Consulting Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
"It was a difficult ending after the good result we had in Race 1. I had a pretty good start behind the Cadillac. I didn’t quite have the pace to follow him, but was able to keep all of the other Porsches behind me. Patrick was running a solid third place and unfortunately had contact on the restart by a competitor who didn’t give him racing room. He dropped a couple of positions, but overall I think it was still a very positive weekend. We will go to COTA with what we learned here and try to win all three races there.
Lizards and Caymans In the Desert. Baptista Earns Third PWC GTS Win For Porsche.
Rodrigo Baptista added to the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) win tallies for himself, Flying Lizard Motorsports and Porsche in the GTS series this past weekend at Utah Motorsports Campus (UMC). In Round 13 of the GTS-only series on August 12, the Spaniard ran from pole position to victory lane in the 50-minute event driving the No. 3 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR. When added to his two victories at Lime Rock Park in the traditional “Lizard” livery, Baptista and FLM now have three wins in the highly competitive class.
Baptista’s teammate, fellow PWC GTS rookie and part of the Flying Lizard Driver Development Program, held in cooperation with Porsche Motorsport North America as part of a larger program supporting up and coming drivers in North America, Nate Stacy raced to seventh-place on Saturday in the sister neon green-liveried No. 14 Cayman racecar. The two switched highest-finisher honors on Sunday in Round 14 with the Tulsa, Oklahoma-driver finishing on the podium in third-place. Baptista, known as “Digo” in the paddock, was seventh in the Pro class.
While the Lizards led the Cayman pack in the GTS races, they were not the only drivers piloting the mid-engine Porsche Motorsport-built machine. Saturday saw Adam Merzon (Greenwich, Connecticut) finish in 12th-position in the No. 017 Case-It Racing Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR. Sunday saw Merzon in seventh-place at the checkered flag. Carter Yeung (Los Angeles, California) made his GTS debut with GMG Racing in their Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR – the first MR ever raced in PWC at last year’s final GTS round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Yeung finished in fifth-place in the Amateur class on Saturday and sixth-place on Sunday. The No. 47 NOLAsport Cayman GT4 Clubsport raced to two victories in SprintX. Amateur class driver Keith Jensen (Dorado, Puerto Rico) raced the same car to a sixth-place (Saturday) and eight-place (Sunday) finish in the GTS races.
The Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR is a direct descendant of Porsche’s Cayman GT4 road car. The Clubsport variant, which shares approximately 80 percent of its parts with the road car, was introduced in 2016 with a focus on club racing but was so popular it was adopted by professional racers as well. Late in 2016, Manthey Racing (MR) and Porsche Motorsport fine-tuned the car to meet the international GT4 specifications. It races in that configuration in PWC GTS and GTS-X. The MR is also eligible and competes in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.
Rodrigo Baptista, Driver, No. 3 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman Clubsport MR.
“It was a really good Race One for us. The car was almost perfect in both races, but it just didn't come together for the second race. We had a great car out there, and it felt good to celebrate another win. Again, thanks to Porsche, HTPro, Mobil 1 and the Flying Lizards for all their hard work.”
Nate Stacy, Driver, No. 3 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman Clubsport MR.
“That was an awesome race. We had a great feel for the car and we worked through some adversity to get the podium.”
Double Duty. Calvert Races Two Different Porsches in Two Different Series in Utah.
Dr. Preston Calvert made a name for himself in the medical field and is working to do the same in the motorsports realm. The Potomac, Maryland driver owns several Porsche 911 road and racecars including two he campaigned at the Utah Motorsports Campus (UMC) on August 12 – 13. He ran a Porsche 911 GT3 R under the Calvert Dynamics banner in the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) SprintX races and a 911 GT3 Cup car in the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA series on the Tooele, Utah-area track.
Calvert made his Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA debut, finishing in second-place in the Diamond Masters class in the first race and then following that up with another runner-up result in the second. He completed his double duty weekend with back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the PWC SprintX races where he shares the No. 77 entry prepared by GMG with Alec Udell of The Woodlands, Texas.
While both cars are based on the iconic Porsche 911 road car and use the same Pirelli P Zero racing tire, they are very different beasts in race trim. The 911 GT3 Cup car is designed to race in “one-make” series around the globe, of which there are four major series in North America alone – Porsche counts over 20 international one-make series using the current or previous generation “Cup car”. In its role in the one-make Porsche Supercup, Carrera Cup and Cup Challenge series, the 911 GT3 Cup car has limited aerodynamic enhancements, tire size, horsepower and electronic driver aides as compared with the more experienced driver-focused 911 GT3 R.
The 911 GT3 R is fielded in North America’s two premier sports car series, the Pirelli World Challenge (GT and GTA classes) and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (GTD class). It is Porsche’s entry into the customer-focused international GT3-specifications. Because of its factory-designed upgrades, it is a very different machine to drive and master than the 911 GT3 Cup car. Both require a shared but unique driving style, one that Calvert is mastering. The time jumping between the two cars at UMC gave him one of the greatest driving challenges of the weekend.
Preston Calvert, Driver, Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3 R and 911 GT3 Cup.
“It felt really good to switch back and forth between the cars. The cars are very different but the R, it accepts lots and lots of inputs, so you can drive the heck out of it! The brake markers are remarkably similar between the two cars, because the R has more downforce and more power so it ends up being very similar except for in Turn One. There is a whole brake marker difference in the R, you can go a lot deeper into Turn One there with the R.
ABS and the downforce let you really hammer the brakes in the R, while in the Cup car, you can give it a really hard hit [onto the brake pedal], but you have to feather off [the pedal] so you can’t keep the same pressure all the way in.
They are similar enough that it is not that hard of a transition. It is probably easier to drive the 911 GT3 R. The Cup car can be a little bit more picky to drive. I love driving it because it is challenging.”
“There are some very fast guys in the GT3 Cup series. The young guys at the pointy end here in the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA that are plenty quick. Their times are better than some of the guys in the (Pirelli World Challenge) SprintX Cup class by a second or so. It is very impressive how good they are. And the Masters Class drivers that I am up against— two of them are faster than I am right now so I have my work cut out for me!”
Social Media.
Porsche Cars North America. @Porsche
Porsche GT Team (North America) @PorscheNARacing
Porsche Motorsport – GT Cars. @PorscheRaces
Porsche Racing – 919 Hybrid. @Porsche_Team
Model Hashtags.
Porsche 911 RSR. #911RSR
Porsche 911 GT3 R. #911GT3R
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup #911Cup
Porsche 919 Hybrid. #919hybrid
Event Hashtag.
Michelin GT Challenge at VIR #MichelinVIR
Series Hashtags and Handles.
GT3 Cup Challenge USA. #GT3USA
GT3 Cup Challenge Canada. #GT3CAN
PCA Club Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport Trophy East @CaymanGT4CSEast #GT4CSE
Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA @PirelliCupUSA
Future Porsche Events.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Event: Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, VIRginia International Raceway
Dateline: Alton, Virginia
Date: Sunday, August 27
Track Length: 3.27-miles, 17-turn
Race Duration: 2-Hours, 40-Minutes
Class: GTLM (Porsche 911 RSR)
GTD (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
Round: GTLM. 9 of 11
GTD. 10 of 12
Next Round: Continental Monterey Grand Prix, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California, September 22 - 24, 2017
IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge
Event: Biscuitville Grand Prix, VIRginia International Raceway
Dateline: Alton, Virginia
Date: Sunday, August 26
Track Length: 3.27-miles, 17-turn
Race Duration: 2-Hours
Class: GT4/GS (Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR, Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport)
Round: GT4/GS. 8 of 10
Next Round: Continental Monterey Grand Prix, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California, September 22 - 24, 2017
IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama
Event: GT Challenge at VIR, VIRginia International Raceway
Dateline: Alton, Virginia
Date: Race 1. Saturday, August 26
Race 2. Sunday, August 27
Track Length: 3.27-miles, 17-turn
Race Duration: Two, 45-minute races
Class: Platinum (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, MY 2017)
Gold (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, MY 2014-2016)
Round: USA. 11 and 12 of 14
Next Round: Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, California, September 15 - 17, 2017
081417